Your Website, Your Domain: Don’t Lose Control

So you’ve let your website lapse and now you want to bring it back to life.

Well, I hope you’ve kept all the important information related to the site, such as the access and control of your domain name control panel and hosting account.

When you set up your domain name you should have received an email from your Domain Name Registrar – the company where you registered the domain name. That email would contain your log-in details. You should have also received a similar email from your hosting account provider if different from your Registrar. Some companies offer both domain name and hosting services together.

A problem I’ve run into a few times now is the fact that some businesses have always had an external source or an employee within their office take care of their website and its related information. When that person moves on and is no longer affiliated with the company, they often take that crucial information with them and can’t always be easily contacted.

So now what? This person is listed as the admin/technical contact and control for the domain you’ve registered but you can’t gain access it because you don’t have the correct information needed. This can be trouble and lead to a headache or two trying to sort out.

In a perfect world, you’d simply provide some identification to the registrar or host, and they’d send you credentials to access your control panel. Then you’d be able to update information as needed.

In a not so perfect world, you may run into problems when your domain registrar or hosting provider says, “Sorry, we’ll only provide details to the person listed as the contact.” Feel that headache starting… Now you have to become a detective and try and track down this person for that information. And depending how the relationship ended, they may or may not be feeling too benevolent. In the end, it might be simpler to start over and purchase an entirely new domain name.

Or, you can avoid this situation entirely by making sure you have access to everything related to your website. Keep digital and hard copies of the information stored in a safe place. It’s also a good idea to make sure you keep a copy of the original site.